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Cold treats a hard sell on chilly Friday at New Orleans Jazz Fest

Singing ice cream sandwich man spreads sunshine at soggy New Orleans Jazz FestLa Divina Gelateria ice cream sandwich man, Charles Lewis, provided rays of sunshine where there were none at the New Orleans Jazz Fest 2013 soggy second Friday (May 3). Lewis, who works at Sylvanie Williams College Prep Elementary in New Orleans, did his best to attract customers on chilly afternoon. He said: "I swear I sold three or four ice cream sandwiches today."

In Food Area II at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, there was no waiting Friday afternoon for rosemint herbal iced tea. Next door, however, dozens of people stood in line at the New Orleans Coffee Company booth. And almost everyone was leaving with steaming Styrofoam cups of coffee. The cold weather was clearly having an effect on food sales at Jazz Fest.

On the other side of the infield, Carmelo Turillo of local gelateria La Divina was finding few buyers for his cold treats.

"To me," Turillo said, "it's always ice cream weather."

This was his fourth Jazz Fest, and usually his lines are long.

"It's killing us," Turillo said, "but we're having fun."

La Divina also had a mobile cart with ice cream sandwiches manned by Charles Lewis. That cart was outselling La Divina's main booth, because Lewis literally put on a song and dance to move the product.

Not everything on La Divina's menu was freezing. Turillo had affogato, or gelato "drowned" in espresso. Jazz Fest rules, however, wouldn't let La Divina sell just the espresso. So, you'll have to take some cold with the hot.

Strawberry Smoothie vendors talk about rainy New Orleans Jazz Fest 2013Joe Gallo and Terry Marks talk about how they prepped the soggy ground in front of their Strawberry Smoothie booth on Friday, May 3, 2013, at the New Orleans Jazz Fest. The rainy weather has hurt vendors' bottom-line this year, they said. They are hoping things will pick up today and on Saturday and Sunday, when weather is expected to improve.